Pastor Roger Byrd of Jonesville Church of God put the sign up which reads "Obama Osama humm are they brothers?" Pastor Byrd says the sign is not meant to be racial or political but rather to make people think. "His name is so close to Osama I have a feeling he might be Islamic therefore he doesn't recognize Christ," Pastor Byrd said. Jonesville Church of God does not have any African American members.

For more on John Hagee, go here.

Also, if you missed Obama's speech on race yesterday, we've posted it after the jump.

From NY Times

Ajinbayo Akinsiku wants the world to know Jesus Christ, just not the gentle, blue-eyed Christ of old Hollywood movies and illustrated Bibles.

Mr. Akinsiku says his Son of God is “a samurai stranger who’s come to town, in silhouette,” here to shake things up in a new, much-abridged version of the Bible rooted in manga, the Japanese form of graphic novels.

“We present things in a very brazen way,” said Mr. Akinsiku, who hopes to become an Anglican priest and who is the author of “The Manga Bible: From Genesis to Revelation.” “Christ is a hard guy, seeking revolution and revolt, a tough guy.”

Publishers with an eye for evangelism and for markets have long profited by directing Bibles at niche markets: just-married couples, teenage boys, teenage girls, recovering addicts. Often the lure is cosmetic, like a jazzy new cover.

Sales of graphic novels, too, have grown by double digits in recent years. So it makes sense that a convergence is under way, as graphic novels take up stories from the Bible, often in startling ways. In the last year, several major religious and secular publishing houses have announced or released manga religious stories.

The medium shapes the message. Manga often focuses on action and epic. Much of the Bible, as a result, ends up on the cutting room floor, and what remains is darker.

“It is the end of the Word as we know it, and the end of a certain cultural idea of the Scriptures as a book, as the Book,” Timothy Beal, professor of religion at Case Western Reserve University, said of the reworking of the Bible in new forms, including manga. “It opens up new ways of understanding Scripture and ends up breaking the idols a bit.”

While known for characters with big eyes and catwalk poses, manga is also defined by a laconic, cinematic style, with characters often doing more than talking.

In a blurb for the Manga Bible, which is published by Doubleday, the archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, is quoted as saying, “It will convey the shock and freshness of the Bible in a unique way.”

No doubt. In the Manga Bible, whose heroes look and sound like skateboarders in Bedouin gear, Noah gets tripped up counting the animals in the Ark: “That’s 11,344 animals? Arggh! I’ve lost count again. I’m going to have to start from scratch!”

From Telegraph UK

Las Vegas used to be a lucrative haunt for Annie Lobert, a $500-a-day escort girl, and Heather Veitch, a highly-remunerated stripper. Now the vivacious double act patrol the city’s neon-lit streets with a dramatically different mission - to save souls rather than sell their bodies.

With their peroxide blond hair, contour-hugging outfits, and surgically-enhanced chests, they do not look so different from their former incarnations in the city’s notorious sex industry.

But the strategically-located message adorning their tight black T-shirts gives away their new mission - as born-again Christians.

Embossed in gaudy pink, the word "Hookers" appears above the Christian symbol of the fish across Ms Lobert’s chest, while Ms Veitch’s shirt bears the legend "Holy Hotties".

Through their two groups, "Hookers for Jesus" and "JC’s Girls", they perform what is arguably America’s most unusual Christian outreach operation, aimed at their former colleagues. [KEEP READING]

From Creation Wiki

Most creationists believe that dinosaurs coexisted with mankind on Earth and lived recently. Biblical support for this perspectives is drawn from the Genesis 1 where it states that all animals were created on the sixth day of creation along with humans. It is furthermore presumed they were still alive at the time of the global flood and taken on board Noah's ark. Evidence to support this perspective includes:

1. The Bible specifically states that a breeding pair of every kind of animal came to the ark.
2. The fossil record is filled with the corpses of dinosaurs that were buried during the deluge.
3. The abundant physical evidence of recent existence of dinosaurs.

It should be noted that although the Biblical description of Noah's ark states it as large enough to host even the largest known specimens of dinosaurs, it is logical that younger / smaller varieties were taken aboard.

From HuffPost

Wednesday's "700 Club" featured a question about the Christian view of yoga. A concerned viewer asked, "Does it really have its origins in evil?" Pat Robertson gave the verdict: Yes! According to Pat, stretching is fine, but by repeating common yoga mantras, you are actually praying to Hindu gods Vishnu and Krishna and you're not even aware of it! Check out the clip below and tell us what you think. Is it wrong for Christians to practice yoga?

Think Progress has the whole story here. Plus a fantastic article by Matt Taibbi on Huckabee. [Thanks Amanda]

From the AP

The target of a financial probe, Oral Roberts University president Richard Roberts is stepping down following accusations he misused school funds.

A statement from the chairman of the school's Board of Regents says Roberts resignation is effective immediately.

A $39,000 shopping spree at one store for his wife. A $29,000 senior trip for his daughter. And a stable of horses for his children.

Those are some of the extravagant items three former professors allege in a lawsuit that Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts used school funds to acquire.

Roberts says the lawsuit amounts to "intimidation, blackmail and extortion."

The professors also charge that Roberts required students in a government class to work on Tulsa, Oklahoma, mayoral candidate Randi Miller's campaign. One professor says he was forced to quit after he warned Roberts that doing so jeopardizes ORU's tax-exempt status.

Roberts denies the accusation.

Today's statement says the evangelical school's regents will meet Monday and Tuesday to determine action in the search process for a new president. According to the statement, Roberts also expressed his feelings for the school, saying --"I love ORU with all my heart."

Roberts is the son of founder Oral Roberts.

WTF? From The Boston Globe

Rudy Giuliani, whose two divorces and proabortion-rights views have alienated many Christian conservatives, yesterday captured the endorsement of the Rev. Pat Robertson, a prominent televangelist who said the former New York mayor would be the best candidate to counter the "blood lust of Islamic terrorists."

Robertson's support helps Giuliani deflect criticism from the Republican Party's right wing, which sees him as too liberal on social issues.

But it also underscored the splintering in the Christian conservative community and raises questions about whether evangelicals - who played a key role in electing President Bush in 2000 and 2004 - will be an important force in the presidential election.

In another sign of the fragmentation, Senator John McCain of Arizona yesterday picked up the endorsement of Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, a conservative who dropped out of the presidential race last month and who considered endorsing Giuliani. The KEEP READING

From The AP:

The ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee is investigating the financial dealings of six TV evangelists, saying donors deserve to have their "money spent as intended and in adherence with the tax code." Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, sent letters Monday asking media-oriented ministers around the country to provide documents detailing their finances by Dec. 6.

They include Joyce Meyer, one of America's wealthiest and most powerful TV preachers who has built a $124-million-a-year empire headquartered in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton.

A 2003 series in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch detailed her lavish lifestyle and blunt fundraising pitches.

"I'm following up on complaints from the public and news coverage regarding certain practices at six ministries," Grassley said in a statement.

"The allegations involve governing boards that aren't independent and allow generous salaries and housing allowances and amenities such as private jets and Rolls-Royces.....

Among other things, the letter asked for a "detailed accounting" of all her and her husband's expense-account items, including clothing and cosmetic surgery, information about any overseas bank accounts and deposits, and the tax-exempt purpose of items at her ministry's headquarters, such as a $23,000 marble-topped commode, a $30,000 conference table and an $11,219 French clock.

Other ministries targeted by Grassley's inquiry include:

-- Benny Hinn of Grapevine, Texas, whose daily television program, "This is Your Day!" is seen in more than 100 countries.
-- Eddie Long of Lithonia, Ga., who preaches anti-gay themes and says God blesses people financially as well as spiritually.
-- Kenneth and Gloria Copeland of Newark, Texas. He is a practitioner of the Word of Faith movement which believes that faith will reward people spiritually and financially.
-- Randy and Paula White of Tampa, Fla., who founded the Without Walls International Church, and listed as their possessions a $1.9 million jet and $3.5 million condominium in New York. In August, they announced their divorce.

This is essential reading. From NY Times:

The hundred-foot white cross atop the Immanuel Baptist Church in downtown Wichita, Kan., casts a shadow over a neighborhood of payday lenders, pawnbrokers and pornographic video stores. To its parishioners, this has long been the front line of the culture war. Immanuel has stood for Southern Baptist traditionalism for more than half a century. Until recently, its pastor, Terry Fox, was the Jerry Falwell of the Sunflower State -- the public face of the conservative Christian political movement in a place where that made him a very big deal.

With flushed red cheeks and a pudgy, dimpled chin, Fox roared down from Immanuel’s pulpit about the wickedness of abortion, evolution and homosexuality. He mobilized hundreds of Kansas pastors to push through a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, helping to unseat a handful of legislators in the process. His Sunday-morning services reached tens of thousands of listeners on regional cable television, and on Sunday nights he was a host of a talk-radio program, “Answering the Call.” Major national conservative Christian groups like Focus on the Family lauded his work, and the Southern Baptist Convention named him chairman of its North American Mission Board.

For years, Fox flaunted his allegiance to the Republican Party, urging fellow pastors to make the same “confession” and calling them “sissies” if they didn’t. “We are the religious right,” he liked to say. “One, we are religious. Two, we are right.”